Nice overview, grundrc. I'll only offer a couple of additions...

Composite is actually the name for the basic video (the video inputs just below the s-video plugs on the rear of the 950); analog audio is just analog audio.

If your digital cable box doesn't have component video output, you can probably swap it for an HD box that will have them. Since your HDTV is new, I'll guess that you may not have had a chance to make the swap yet.